Fruit-jar holder



no. 6l9.275. Pat ented Feb. I4, I899. T. Eamon.

FRUIT JAR HOLDER.

(Application filed Jan. a, 1098.

(No Modei.)

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UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS F. BYRON, OF DES MOINES, IOXVA.

FRUIT-JAR HOLDER.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 619,275, dated February 14., 1899.

Application filed January 6, 1898. fierial No. 665,867. (No model.)

To aZZ whont it nmy concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS F. BYRON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Des Moines, in the county of Polk and State of Iowa, have invented a new and useful Fruit- Jar Holder, of which the following is a specification.

In the use of ordinary glass fruit-jars having metal screw-caps it is essential that the caps be screwed very tightly to the jar in order to make a perfect air-tight seal. It is at the present time a common practice to use a lever or spanner to engage a lug on one side of the cap, so that a leverage may be secured whereby the cap may be turned; but when this is used there has been no proper means heretofore provided for holding the jar conveniently so that it may not turn in unison with the cap.

It is the object of this invention to provide a device of simple and durable construction and capable of being manufactured at such a slight expense as to be commercially practicable and which may be readily and quickly applied to a jar and when once applied the jar be firmly held against twisting or turning without the necessity of the operator grasping the jar itself.

My invention consists in certain details in the construction, arrangement, and combination of the parts comprising the holder, whereby it is adapted for the objects contemplated, as hereinafter more fullyset forth, pointed out in my claim, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 shows the device in side elevation applied to a fruit-jar. Fig. 2 shows a plan view of the same. Fig. 3 shows a top or plan view of a modified form of holder.

The reference-numeral is used to indicate the handle or body of the device, which is preferably made of wood, and its outer edge is made fiat and straight, and a rubber or elastic strip 11 is secured to this end. Upon one face of the handle Ihave located a series of pins or screws 12 for purposes hereinafter made clear.

The jar is held to the handle by means of a wire, and this wire is arranged with relation to the handle as follows: Its central portion (indicated by the reference-numeral 13) lies flat against the front face of the handle and is passed through two openings 14 formed in the said handle. From thence it is passed toward the straight edge of the handle and then extends through the handle between the said straight edge and the rubber strip 11. From thence the parts of the wire indicated by the reference-numeral 15 are formed in loops to encircle a fruit-jar, and the end portions of the wire (indicated by the reference-numeral 16) are passed through openings 17 in the handle and are connected by being jointly secured into a ball 18. This wire is made of a stock that is sufficiently flexible so that it may be readily drawn through the openings 17.

The holder may obviously be adapted to fit jars of diderent sizes by placing the ball 18 in engagement with different ones in the series of pins or screws 12.

19 indicates a straight wooden block of ap-' proximately the same length as the straight edge of the handle, and it is provided with a rubber strip 20 on its inner face. Notches 21 are provided in its outer face to receive the wire loops 15, and staples 22 are driven into the block 19 to hold the wires in place. This wooden strip 19 is preferably located at a point nearly diametrically opposite from the handle, and it serves the function of hold ing the wire loops in a parallel position and of aiding in preventing the Wire from slipping relative to the jar. In practical use, assuming that the device were in a position relative to the jar, as shown in the drawings, it is obvious that the holder may be loosened upon the jar by turning the handle relative to the jar in the direction of that portion of the loop which enters the handle at a point farthest from the jar, and when thus loosened the device may readily and quickly be attached to or detached from the jar. Assuming, however, that the device were in position on a jar and that it was desired to securely hold the jar, the handle is turned in an opposite direction, with the effect that the loop is made smaller, because the point where the wire enters the handle at some distance from the straight edge is made more distant from the jar, and the rubber strip 11 being thus held in tight engagement with the surface of the jar will prevent the handle from sliding upon the jar. Hence in practical use when all of the jars are of a uniform size the position of the wire relative to the handle is not changed in changing from one jar to another. However, when the size of the jars varies the wire may be adjusted to approximately fit the same by moving the ball 18 into engagement with different ones of the pins or screws 12.

In the modified form shown in Fig. 3 I haveprovided a device that may be used either upon the jar itself or upon the screw-cap thereof. It comprises a handle 23, having a series of pins or screws 24 on its face and on its outer end a plate 25, secured to the handle by means of the screws 26, and having on its end a series of shoulders 27, arranged to substantially conform to the circumference of a screw-cap. A wire loop 28 is provided,

into engagement with the cap or jar and the loop is made shorter as the other shoulders recede from the cap or jar, and hence the device will bind upon the cap or jar.

Having thus described the holder, what I claim as new therein, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States therefor,

A fruit-jar holder, comprising in combination, a handle having a straight outer edge, a rubber strip on said outer edge, a series of pins or screws in the handle, a single piece of flexible wire having a central portion passed through the handle and then extended outwardly and again through the handle near its straight edge, then formed intotwo loops to encircle the jar, and finally passed through the handle from its opposite side at a point some distance from the straight edge, and having its ends connected together, and a block attached to the said loops, and a rubber face for the said block, all arranged and combined substantially in the manner set forth and for the purposes stated.

THOMAS F. BYRON.

Vitnesses:

PAUL BYRON, THOMAS G. ORWIG. 

